Page 61 of Somebody's Watching Me
Jamison winced. A dream or not, the judgment in her mother’s voice still hit home.
“Six months before the wedding, he closed another missing person’s file and came home exhausted,” she explained. “A little girl. Four years old. Her mother had taken her to the movies, and before the show, stopped by the bathroom. When the mother came out of the stall, the girl was gone. No sound, no screams, just gone.”
Her mother’s fingers fluttered to her heart. “What happened?”
“Bad things.” Jamison couldn’t repeat them. It somehow seemed wrong to discuss it with someone who would lose her life and time with her own children in just four years. “But Liam found her.”
Laura Jean sighed, pale at the thought. “He came home broken over what they had done to that little girl.”
“If he had just talkedto me. The whole not-having-kids thing had been in his head for a long time, but he never said it out loud until then, and I just lost it.”
She had done more than lose it. Liam’s response had been silence. Staring at her as she raged, he absorbed all that anger as she tore their life apart.
“I even had my wedding dress ready to go.”
“Oh, I adore wedding dresses!” Laura Jean clapped. “What does it look like?”
“Um, well.” How did one explain to their imaginary mother that they had picked out a dress with the sole intention of driving the groom into a sexual frenzy? “It’s a shorter design with a low neckline.”
Laura Jean wiggled her eyebrows. “Sounds scandalous.”
“Simone certainly thinks so.” Jamison cut her a sideways grin. “I thought she might have a heart attack right there in the fitting room when I tried it on the first time.”
The smile on Laura Jean’s face faltered. “You know SiSi?”
Her dad was the only one who occasionally called Simone that. A nickname belonging to another time and another person who no longer existed.
“No, I don’t know SiSi,” Jamison said honestly. “My Simone and your SiSi are not the same.”
Laura Jean studied her, and as she did, the air shimmered, drawing her in and out of focus. “It’s time for me to wake up.”
“Okay?”
Her mother leaned close, and Jamison did the same, bringing them nose to nose. It was almost like looking in a mirror.
“Can I offer you some advice?” Laura Jean asked. “I know we don’t know each other, but I can offer you a perspective most can’t.”
Jamison nodded, more than a little choked up. If the day hadn’t already been hard enough, now herderanged brain was trying to emotionally murder her with a dream. “Go ahead.”
“I was married to a wonderful man. He was kind, considerate, and my best friend, giving me the most precious gift I could ever ask for.” Laura Jean pointed at little Evie on the lawn beating the crap out of Selah with a stick. “Her.”
“Evie? Are you sure?” Jamison scrunched her nose in her sister’s direction. “I bet you’ll have more children one day, and they’ll be much better than that kid.”
“My kitten is more of a hellcat sometimes, but she’s a gift nonetheless.”
“If you say so.”
Her disbelief had Laura Jean giggling. “I promise you she is, and I wouldn’t trade being her mama for anything,” she said. “You see, my Albie isn’t with us anymore, and I’ve had to learn how to deal with life by myself. I have my friends. Without them, I would have gone off the deep end long ago.”
“You might have friends, but you’re also in love.” Jamison knew this story as well as anyone. The hurricane of ’95 was legendary. “I would think that helps too.”
Laura Jean placed a hand against her cheek. “Oh my God, am I that bad at hiding it?”
“You are.”
“I do love him,” her mother admitted. “I loved my husband. I truly did. But with Ben, it’s different. I don’t know how to describe the feeling. It’s like my soul is screaming to get out and merge with his.”
Understanding completely, Jamison helped her put it into words. “Like he’s the other half that makes you whole.”
